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In the early days of dinosaur paleontology, two feuding fossil hunters struck out for the uncharted frontiers of the American West seeking scientific prestige and thousands of undiscovered bones. Our interactive children's musical dramatizes the true story of dinosaur hunters O. C. Marsh and E. D. Cope as they discredit each other in the press, destroy each other’s discoveries, and dig up the largest and most important set of dinosaur fossils the world has ever known!

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ALL:
The dinosaur hunters
Riding through the plain
Digging through mud and blood and sweat
Digging through wind and rain
Following the traces of a prehistoric trail
But in the end, who will prevail?
The dinosaur hunters

The dinosaur hunters
Two men fought to prove who was the best
The dinosaur hunters
A tragic tale of science in the west

[COPE is introduced]

COPE:
A dinosaur hunter
A young man with a promising career
A dinosaur hunter
My scientific greatness seems so near

[MARSH is introduced]

MARSH:
A dinosaur hunter
With my money and my power I can't fail
A dinosaur hunter
For dinosaurs, for country, and for Yale

ALL:
Two rival men of science
Their destinies entwined
Each was sure he could secure the most impressive find
So blinded by their focus
That they couldn't realize
That such a crude and brutal feud would lead to their demise

The dinosaur hunters
Two men fought to prove who was the best
The dinosaur hunters

ONE:
A tragic tale of science in the west...

ALL:
The dinosaur hunters
Riding through the plain
Digging through mud and blood and sweat
Digging through wind and rain
Following the traces of a prehistoric trail
But in the end, who will prevail?
The dinosaur hunters
The dinosaur hunters
The dinosaur hunters

Track Name: We Can Work Together

COPE:
Mr. Marsh, while you're here
I'd just like to volunteer
We should work together

It's quite a thought, but can't you see
What a remarkable team we'd be?
If we worked together

In the field of paleontology
There's far more work to be done
I'll follow you if you follow me
'Cause surely we can both agree
That two heads together are better than one

So Mr. M, whadduya say
Golly it would make my day
If we worked together

MARSH:
Together, you say? That does sound interesting...

Well I declare, I'm impressed
Cope, I think you've passed the test
We can work together

A single goal, two brilliant minds
A quarry full of precious finds
Sure, let's work together

[dialogue]

BOTH:
'Cause as two paleontologists
We really ought to play fair
So let's remember through all of this
There're plenty of dinosaurs to share!

COPE:
Right?

MARSH:
Right.

COPE:
So I'll help you

MARSH:
You'll help me

BOTH:
In the name of discovery
We can work together!

COPE:
Partners 'til the end!

BOTH:
We can work together!

MARSH:
You're my new best friend

[MARSH pats COPE on the back, and exits. COPE finishes the song, unaware.]

COPE
We can work to...
We can work to...
We can work together!

[Realizes he's alone and MARSH has taken the fossils]

Mr. Marsh? Mr. Marsh? Where'd he go?

Track Name: The Elasmosaurus Song

COPE:
A set of fins - now that would mean
That this creature was marine
Which means that when it lived it swam under the sea
It’s fifty feet from head to tail
And just as heavy as a whale
A prehistoric monster massive as can be

I search for the stories in the stone
The fossilized tales to call my own
Bones…bones…you’ll be my big break
There's nothing to lose when there's history to make

[dialogue]

COPE:
It had a neck of certain strength but almost comical in length
As short and stubby as a fifty-cent cigar
Its longer tail would do the trick
To push it through the water quick
That’s how Elasmosaurus traveled near and far

Now I’m placing the head and it’s complete
My personal scientific feat

[dialogue]

MARSH
Well Eddie Cope, my gallant man
I’d like to help you if I can
It seems your model dinosaur is not quite right
Upon inspection I have found
The head and tail are switched around
I’m sure you’ll be relieved I’ve brought this all to light

And in case what I've mentioned wasn’t clear
I've published my own correct version here.

COPE:
Now hang on Marsh this can’t be true
I’ve done my research just like you
I’m almost positive my findings are correct

MARSH:
Sure.

COPE:
But wait a minute you don’t say
The structure of the vertebrae
A skeletal arrangement I did not expect

My whole reputation compromised
When I looked at these bones they told me lies
Bones, bones, you were my big break
I had nothing to lose
But i made a mistake...

Track Name: Discovery, My Boys!

MARSH:
There is a land that is calling, can't you hear it?
How can you rest 'til we're western bound?
We're living in a country with a proud and noble spirt
That spirit is discovery, my boy!

There is a treasure that's ripe for the taking
Fantastic plunder deep underground
Let's strike out for adventure that's a legend in the making
A legend of discovery, my boy!

Discovery, my boy
Our way of making history
In time you'll come to love
The feeling of
A new discovery!

COPE:
Now is the moment to rise above your station
And hear your name ring with fame profound
You know there is a reason we were born unto this nation
That reason is discovery, my boys!

Discovery my boys
Don't drop this opportunity!
You're standing right above
The dig site of
A new discovery!

MARSH:
There is a reason we care about the credit
The guarantee that you'll be renowned
It's all about who found it and who wrote it and who said it
Who dug up the discovery, my boys!

BOTH:
Discovery my boys
Will make or break who we will be
So push may come to shove
To grab hold of
A new discovery...

NARRATOR:
Da da da da

MARSH:
It's name should be Netharctus

COPE:
I already named it Loxolodon

MARSH:
Dinoceras, Tinoceras

COPE:
Eobasileus

MARSH
Telmalestes!

COPE:
Thinolestes!

BOTH:
Wrong!

Discovery, my boys
Can nurse and worsen rivalry
We're throwing down a glove
In dreaming of
A new discovery!

Track Name: Something Very Big

LAKES:
Something very big
'Neath a rocky ridge's shadow
On a field in Colorado
Something very big

MAILMAN:
So he wrote a letter to Marsh.

LAKES:
Something very old
Lying there like trees I found 'em
Couldn't get my arms around 'em
Something very big

Something very old
Laying there like leaves I found 'em
Couldn't get my arms around 'em
Something very big

So I sit near bones of giants
Writing to a man of science
On the prairie

COPE:
(reading his identical letter)
Something very big
'Neath a rocky ridge's shadow
On a field in Colorado
Something very big

Something very old
Laying there like trees I found 'em
Couldn't stretch my arms around 'em
Something very big

There are bones

Lakes:
So I sit near bones of giants
Writing to a man of science
On the prairie
There's something very big

Something very big
'Neath a rocky ridge's shadow
On a field in Colorado

ALL THREE:
Something very big

COPE AND MARSH:
This is something so colossal
Something more than just a fossil
This'll push my star far as it can go
And the best part is

MARSH:
That Cope

COPE:
That Marsh

BOTH:
Doesn't know!

Track Name: I'll Outdig That Man

MARSH:
I'll outdig that man
He doesn't seem to understand
That when we're finished digging through the sand
I will be the best

COPE:
I'll dig all night if I must
I just
Have to trust
That when I'm finished digging
I will be the best

Track Name: Going To War

NEWSIE 1:
Did you catch the news?
Did you see the spread?
Oh you must have read
Cope is going to war

NEWSIE 2:
Ya hear what they said?
Hey this ain’t a ruse!
Wonder who will lose...
Cope is going to war.

[dialogue]

NEWSIE 1:
When he did mammalian paleontology
Without apology, Marsh published data that he stole
Now it’s in a journal eternally
Signed by him
But it wasn’t a find by him
Does he have no soul?

NEWSIE 2:
How droll!

NEWSIE 1:
He's going head to head

NEWSIE 2:
Even out the score

BOTH:
Cope isn't dead
Instead
He's going to war!

[dialogue]

NEWSIE 1:
Tell me have you heard
Well it's just the best
Never would have guessed

NEWSIE 2:
Never would have guessed!

NEWSIE 1:
Marsh is going to war!

NEWSIE 2:
He's going to war!

He won't be suppressed
They'll print every word
Though it seems absurd

BOTH:
Marsh is going to war!

[dialogue]

NEWSIE 2:
Cope is so unstable
Unable to face the facts
That he tries to erase the facts
But the facts are plain to see
He is just a liar
Entirely out of touch
And he loves himself so much
It's insanity!

NEWSIE 1:
Well, gee!

[dialogue]

CONGRESSMAN:
Never trust a Yalie in paleontology
Once a man's in college he develops unrealistic views
Marsh and Powell waste all our money
On their own pursuits
And they both are in cahoots
Have you read the news?

[dialogue]

NEWSIE 2:
Well it's pretty harsh

CONGRESSMAN:
Oh, and one more thing

NEWSIE 2:
cope was feeling sore

CONGRESSMAN:
your bones

MARSH:
Yes?

NEWSIE 1:
And now look at marsh!

CONGRESSMAN
We're going to have to take them. They were paid for with government funds, and according to some new law it seems that you're required to turn them over to us.

NEWSIE 2:
That's what happens when

NEWSIE 1:
Two overzealous, jealous men

BOTH:
Will time and time and time again
Insist on going to war!

Track Name: Show Us Again

COPE:
This one's unique
See the curve of its beak
And its birdlike physique
While flying
And the triceratops may
Keep its hunters at bay
If it knows it's the prey
They're eying

KNIGHT:
Wow okay. How about stiguh, steeegosaurus?

COPE
Stegosaurus.

It had plates on its back
To protect from attack
Make it blue and not black

Knight
I'm trying!

Just a flick of my wrist
Think i'm getting the gist
This is no longer mystifying

COPE:
Good.

KNIGHT:
Now, show me again
Please sir show me again
Your words are guiding my pen
So won't you show me the dinosaurs?
Cuz I really want to see them again
It's the world you know
So oh just show me again

COPE:
I'm happy to! What are you gonna do with these paintings, anyhow?

KNIGHT:
I'm going to publish them in scientific magazines. Everyone will see them the world over! Just imagine it:

You’ll hear in due time
People say “How sublime!”
At the images I’m
Supplying
Just look at these jaws
Hear the oohs and the aahs
There’ll be thund’rous applause
And sighing

BOTH:
They'll say show us again
Please sir show us again
Won't you show us again?
Won't you show us the dinosaurs
Cuz we all want to see them again
It's the world you know
So oh just show us again!

[dialogue]

EVERYONE:
We'll say show us again
Please sir show us again
Won't you show us again?
Won't you show us the dinosaurs
Cuz we all want to see them again
It's the world you know
So oh just show us again!

ONE:
So cope's legacy continues, and, even in poor health, he must have been thrilled to see his creatures come to life through Charles Knight's work.

EVERYONE BUT COPE
Pale Mr. Cope
At the end of his rope
Felt a glimmer of hope
While dying
He battled his foe
Lost his life, even so
He's important there's no
Denying